New to reloading

[JONAH898]

Just purchased a lovley .357/.38 Rossi lever action and I'm considering reloading to make it cheaper to shoot on a regular basis. The main thing I need is a list of equipment I would need to do a good job and the best set up,as never doing it before ill most likely be drawing on all your fast experience for the best recipe etc and tips on how to do it. Cheers in advance lads

[Imperfection]

I reload 357 for my Winchester 94AE and use a Lee breech lock press and Lee 38 special dies. Do remember that 38 special dies will reload 38's and 357,but 357 dies wont reload 38's so bear this in mind if you will be using both sizes. My Winchester however will not cycle 38sp brass properly so i stick to 357.

 

I cast my own bullets (158grn RNFP) and find an accurate load for my rifle is 9 grains of Alliant 2400 and a CCI or Federal small pistol primer.If i shoot out at 100mtrs i bump it upto 13 grains. If you live anywhere near Northampton and if you can get hold of him try Peter Lawman as he sells Vectan A1 powder and this stuff is cheap as chips.9 grains of this is also a good and very very cheap load.

 

I suppose what you'll need to get started atleast is a press, dies, vernier caliper, hand priming tool, primer pocket cleaner, powder, primers.For charging the cases i use the Lee dippers because quite handily there are two in particular which when level filled deliver the above mentioned 9 & 13 grains of powder so i can whip a box up reasonably quickly. If you're buying brass,nickel coated Magtech's are good quality and you should be able to reload these atleast a dozen times before they start splitting. Privi Partizan pistol calibre brass is not good quality and splits after 6 or so times even when i've annealed them in molten lead (the heat re-softens the brass).

 

This is 5 rounds at 50mtrs-the rifle is scoped though. Apart from one flier they all grouped well so for homeloads im pleased.

[Steel100]

Funny, I shot and reloaded .357 / .38 pistol for twenty years before the ban and never had any trouble loading .38 Sp cases using RCBS .357 Magnum dies. I just had to run the bullet seater further down. If you try reloading .357 Mag. with .38Sp dies, depending upon the make / design, you might find that they are not long enough in the body, which means the base of the .357 Mag case won't be properly sized and may prove difficult to chamber. If your loads are quite light it might not be an issue. I'm not familiar with the modern Lee dies, however.

 

ATB

 

Andy

[Imperfection]

Funny, I shot and reloaded .357 / .38 pistol for twenty years before the ban and never had any trouble loading .38 Sp cases using RCBS .357 Magnum dies. I just had to run the bullet seater further down. If you try reloading .357 Mag. with .38Sp dies, depending upon the make / design, you might find that they are not long enough in the body, which means the base of the .357 Mag case won't be properly sized and may prove difficult to chamber. If your loads are quite light it might not be an issue. I'm not familiar with the modern Lee dies, however.

 

ATB

 

Andy

 

Im guessing the RCBS dies are more inclined to be size wise same as the Lee 38sp,but the Lee 357 magnum ones wont wind down enough to flair or crimp 38 cases.A friend only discovered this recently after being given several hundred 38's and decided to load these up instead.

[Steel100]

Ah. That explains it then. Trouble is RCBS dies are a little more money than Lee!

 

A

[Livefast123]

It all depends how much you want to shoot.

 

I started my reloading for .223 with a simple Lee Loader like this :-

 

http://www.henrykrank.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=164_181_474&products_id=1736

 

They cost around £25 and contain everything you need except a mallet and a powder scale if you don't want to use the supplied dipper. I only reload around 50 - 100 rounds at a time so it is ideal for me and I can store it away in a little bag so keeps the Mrs on my side.

 

Before I started I read absolutly loads, watched every video on youtube and bought myself a Lee reloading manual so that I was prepared as well as I could be for what I was about to do. The Lee Loader allows you to go at your own pace in the beginning but when you have practiced then doing 100 rounds is no sweat.

[malantone]

I have the lee loader to load .243, I too bought a set off scales for the sake of accuracy, it does a brilliant job without breaking the bank, honestly its all you need and they do 38 aswell http://www.henrykrank.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=164_181_474&products_id=1726 good luck mate. there`s no need to spend a fortune

[JonathanL]

I cast my own bullets (158grn RNFP) and find an accurate load for my rifle is 9 grains of Alliant 2400

 

This seems very light. 2400 is a slow burning powder (pistol cartridge wise) and usually needs larger charges to work properly. Long time since I've used it though so I may not remebering things correctly. I do recall though that I used to use Blue Dot (which is slightly faster) in a 2" S&W model 36; the difference between proper ignition and failure to properly ignite was less than 1 grain.

 

J.

[Imperfection]

This seems very light. 2400 is a slow burning powder (pistol cartridge wise) and usually needs larger charges to work properly. Long time since I've used it though so I may not remebering things correctly. I do recall though that I used to use Blue Dot (which is slightly faster) in a 2" S&W model 36; the difference between proper ignition and failure to properly ignite was less than 1 grain.

 

J.

 

Nope,works perfectly fine with my cast bullets and is the best powder i've personally tried for 357. Bullseye is too light (is economical though when you're only using 3 grains),Blue Dot just dont seem accurate with my rifle despite trying various loads,Unique is very good,but struggle to find it due to the shotgun boys getting in their first.

 

However if i use FMJ's then yes it goes to almost 15,but as you well know if you push hard cast lead that fast if just clogs the rifling.Most i can use is 13 grains of 2400 and that is perfect for 100mtr shooting with hard cast bullets with no sign of leading.

[JONAH898]

I never new there were so many different types of powder it's mind blowing lol

[Livefast123]

You've really opened up the powder keg

 

There are hundreds of powders that all have different burn rates and different applications, reloading really is a hobby in it's own right.

 

In my low power range .223's I use 3.1gr of Titegroup (very fast pistol powder), if I want medium power I do 16 - 17gr of Hodgdons H4895 and a full power round would be around 26gr of H4895.............See why you need a manual now.

 

IMO get a lee loader to see if you like it, you can always spend 100's later on more advanced kit.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Livefast123

[xmarksmanx]

357 with 158grain lead rnfp head with 5 grains of bullseye ...1000 rounds a tub ..